Community

There are venues online where you can talk about soulbonding (in addition to here!) and I'll hopefully share those here soon, as well as lists/webrings!

To say that there are hardly any soulbonders these days would be absolutely untrue.

Soulbonding, or something like it has arguably always existed, and most people who pick up a knack for it will have some difficulty losing their affinity towards it. With me, the most I can do (and usually do, for most of my life) is just not mention it, online or off. That, or contextualize the experience in another way. Or, use another word for it.

This was often because of the notoriety attached to the term soulbonder, as well as fear of attracting unwanted attention from other people using the same term for themselves. I’m certain that some current soulbonders find themselves in a similar situation, and might be hesitant to use the term for that reason, or unsure if it applies.

The term was coined a quarter-century ago, though, and, as I discuss here, it is worth using for many reasons. It is also, I think, worth trying to forge a small community of metaphysically/spiritually-inclined soulbonders online, similar to those that have existed before. Arguably, such groups already exist, but are using different words than soulbond (and often have heavy occult trappings). Why not come on over, if you think “soulbonding” might be a good word for what you’re doing?

Moving Forward?

This section is currently empty, but will soon feature a short essay I'm writing with regards to how the soulbonding (and related alterhuman) communities have functioned in the past, nowadays, and how we might move forward...

Soulbonding Symbols

Here’s a bit of soulbonding-related symbols and such. Not all of it is my doing, so I provide sources to those who created these. I explain as well why I, personally, feel most comfortable using them. I obviously have little issue if you use other symbols, or have reasons for not using these. If you'd like to discuss this or anything else, contact me.

Double Pupil Eye

A symbol for soulbonding...
Could this be a symbol for soulbonding?

The symbol you see on this site occasionally which resembles an eye with a Venn diagram as the pupil represents soulbonding itself. It was designed by Tumblr user @scatterbrainedadventurelog back in July (significant-ish; see portion below about July, hehehe) of 2016 in response to community requests for iconography. You can read the conversation about it here. The user who originally suggests a symbol should exist, @labyrinth-in-the-oz, opines that this eye symbol might have the following meaning:

  • the Venn diagram is two souls/people overlapping, bond and bonder sharing the same space/body, and
  • the eye represents Inner/Other Sight to headspace/the Multiverse.
@Labryinth-in-the-oz on Tumblr. This symbolism was confirmed by the designer, @scatterbrainedadventurelog.

You might be asking yourself why I’ve chosen this over a flag-like image. If you search “soulbonding” and “flag,” some results do appear. I myself find a flag to be utterly inappropriate, at least for my site. If you choose to use one, I won’t begrudge you! I will, however, explain my reasoning for not using one.

The various LGBTQ pride flags seem to have popularized the flag motif, and that hasn’t got much to do with something like soulbonding. Why use a flag, then? I’d rather leave those to the people who started the tradition of using them as contemporary identity signifiers originally. It doesn’t seem right to assign a flag to a metaphysical concept like soulbonding. I am, of course open to discussing this further.

So, I’m using a symbol that I happened across, created by someone else for this purpose. It does resonate with the idea, does it not? Many alterhuman communities identify themselves with symbols primarily, rather than something like a flag. Therians might wear a theta-delta; otherkin have long used a seven-pointed “Elven” star.

Day of Soulbonding?

It used to seem awfully frivolous to imagine declaring a particular date to be “International Day of Soulbonders” or something. Is it really, though? It can’t possibly be more silly than something like Groundhog Day, or Wolfenoot (both personal favorites).

And it would have quite fair significance to many of us - we could even spend the entire day with our soulbonds in celebration. It’s not as if we haven’t seen therians (of which I’m also one) declare the first full moon of November to be International Therian Day, for example.

As far as I’ve been able to discern, nobody else has suggested this, but just as a cool little thing, I thought I would. Perhaps we could have little gatherings on Discord or whatever if not spending our time “alone,” so to speak. When should it happen, though?

Well, I propose a day sometime in July. If you were there, like I was, or check the archives, you’ll notice that many, many of the earliest, most detailed sites about this (written by nerdy college kids, yes) were updated in the summer quite often, likely because of summer breaks and such.

This seems like a silly reason to choose a date, but you must remember that International Therian Day just reflects the date of the first in-person gathering of therians, organized on a 1990s mailing list.

I’m suggesting, specifically, July’s new moon, the day the crescent begins to show. This fits well with the “eye” symbolism discussed above. Most of the moon is hidden during this phase, much like the “inner life” of the soulbonder, yet the light has just begun to shine on it.

If anyone else thinks of something better, or just wants to tell me to shove off for even having this idea, do leave a message.

Soulbond Code

Have you ever heard of the Geek Code? It’s a method of describing yourself and your own geeky nature in a complex, compact string of numbers and letters. These are only decipherable to fellow geeks who know the code, or can pull up a key online. It’s actually based on a much older, similar code called the Bear Code which allowed gay men to describe themselves in similar strings of Byzantine code.

In the early 2000s, a preponderance of derivative codes flooded the web, including the Furry Code, a code for autistics, codes for polyamory, and more. It’s no surprise that, however niche, early soulbonders took to something similar. Azusa, a member of the Just For Writers mailing list (where the term “soulbond” was coined) created a Soulbond Code. With this, a soulbonder could let people know a little bit about their experiences with soulbonding through a series of letters and numbers pasted onto their websites or forum signatures.

The original version (on which this was based) was pulled from an archived page here, which was created by Riesz Fenrir. I’ve created a (more than slightly) different version that is a bit more geared towards present day communities.

Admittedly, every bit of this likely reflects my own biases about soulbonding. I tried to leave my version sparse for that reason, though it does adopt a metaphysical slant, like the rest of this site. You can, like with most of these codes, leave out portions that don’t apply to you, as well as adding modifiers, etc. If you have any changes you think might work well, contact me.

Universal Modifiers

Use these in place of any part of the code where they apply. Additionally, you can leave out any other particular section that does not apply to you or your soulbonds.

  • ?: Unknown or unsure
  • *: Varies constantly

Number of Soulbonds (Lifetime)

This section of the code is representative of the number of soulbonds (by your definition of the term) that you have had throughout your entire life.

  • L- -: Two to five
  • L-: Five to ten
  • L: 10-15
  • L+: 16-30
  • L++: 30-50
  • L+++: 50-100
  • L+++!: Over 100
  • L#: Not sure if I'm a soulbonder or not.

Number of Soulbonds (Current)

Here, we have the portion representative of the number of soulbonds with whom you currently interact with frequently, depending on your own definitions of such.

  • C- -: Two to five
  • C-: Five to ten
  • C: 10-15
  • C+: 16-30
  • C++: 30-50
  • C+++: 50-100
  • C+++!: Over 100
  • C?: Unsure; changes constantly

Gender

This portion of the code signifies gender within the context of the situation. "B" refers to the body's primary gender identification and "S" refers to the genders of soulbonds.

  • M: Male
  • F: Female
  • X: Nonbinary
  • I: Intersex
  • O: Other

Modifiers

  • +: More than one of any of the above
  • &: Prevalent gender among soulbonds
  • ^: Switches gender or is capable of doing so

For example
G (bF sM/F+&/O)
The Bonder is female, has one male soulbond, several female soulbonds, and one soulbond who lacks the concept of gender. The majority of her soulbonds are female.

Forging Soulbonds

"F" refers to whether one intentionally forged or tried to create the soulbond connection in question. Many draw a line here and say that when such beings are intentionally created, they're called "tulpas;" I disagree, but either way, anyone can use this code.

  • A: The soulbonding happened spontaneously, as if by accident, or came “out of nowhere.”
  • W A definite element of intention was involved, if not actions.
  • D: Not really trying, just really devoted to the character or concept…
  • R: The soulbond(s) resulted from magical work, planning, or even ritual to get them to notice you!
  • U: The soulbonding was actually a bit unwanted at first?

Modifiers

  • +: More than one of any of the above
  • &: Prevalent among soulbonds

For example:
F(A&/W+/R)
This person predominantly interacts with soulbonds they have formed spontaneously, but has several that were formed with an element of intention, and one that involved what they consider to be a magical working and/or ritual.

Origin of Soulbonds

  • O.c- Soulbonds with non-media sources.
    • O.cW: Appeared to you unbidden without a known origin.
    • O.cR: Originating from roleplaying campaigns
    • O.cS: From original stories/novels/plays/comics/etc that you wrote.
  • O.e- Media soulbonds
    • O.eA: Animated material, cartoons, anime, etc…
    • O.eB: Books and other written material (including online fiction)
    • O.eC: Comic books (including manga)
    • O.eM: Live action movies or television programs
    • O.eP: Plays or musicals
    • O.eV: Video games

Modifiers

  • +: More than one of any of the above
  • f-: Fan-created original (an original character created for a world invented by other people)
  • a-: From an alternate universe or alternate version of the world in question
  • &: Prevalent among soulbonds

For example:
O.cR/S+ eA+/A&Vf/Vf/Vaf/?
This person has an original roleplaying character, more than one character from original stories, more than one anime/cartoon character, a fan character from an animation/game crossover world, a fan-created game character, a fan-created game character from an alternate universe, and a character of unknown origin.

Species of Soulbonds

  • Sp.H: Human
  • Sp.H^: Human with slight modifications (i.e. genetic manipulation, supernatural abilities, mutant, more advanced version of a human, etc.)
  • Sp.Hm: Humanoid species (elf, dwarf, any of the various humanoid species shown in Star Trek and the like)
  • Sp.F: Fairy/faerie or similar creature
  • Sp.S: Spirit creatures such as ghosts
  • Sp.Su: Supernatural creatures such as angels and demons
  • Sp.A: Alien species which doesn’t fit under "humanoid"
  • Sp.Dr: Dragon
  • Sp.Fa: Other fantasy creatures
  • Sp.An: Non-human animal
  • Sp.Af: Anthropomorphic animal/furry
  • Sp.Un: Undead creatures such as vampires, revenants, etc.
  • Sp.Sh: Shapeshifters (including werewolves, were-cats, etc.)
  • Sp.N: Non-corporeal lifeform
  • Sp.O: Other species which does not fit into any of the above categorizations (can specify in parentheses)
  • Sp.?: Unknown species

Modifiers

  • +: More than one of any of the above
  • ~: The Bonder's conception of this species is extremely different from the "common" idea
  • &: Cross between two species
  • #: The soulbonder identifies primarily as this species (if therian, otherkin, etc…)

For example:
Sp.H+/S/Dr~/An(Cat)/H&F
This person has several humans, a spirit creature, a dragon who is substantially different from the "typical" idea of a dragon, an animal specified to be a cat, and a human-fairy mix.

Involvement in Daily Life

Describes the involvement of soulbonds within the life of the soulbonder, internal or external, but not necessarily insofar as it involves other people besides the soulbonder.

  • I - -: They're just /there/. You don’t communicate with them or interact with them.
  • I -: Rarely if ever communicate with the Bonder; make themselves manifest only during situations which directly involve them.
  • I: Present at times, but are more of a "background noise" than anything.
  • I+: Present most of the time, but rarely talk to you; occasionally influence your body language, behavior, mannerisms, etc.
  • I++: Present most of the time and talk to you often; friends ask why you just burst out laughing for no apparent reason.
  • I+++: Never shut up; have a big influence on your "outside" self, even to the point of having body control at times.

Sociability of Soulbonds

This portion signifies the soulbond or soulbonds' interaction with the "outside world;" how much they interact with other, physical people besides the soulbonder.

  • T- -: It’s against my rules/principles to let them talk at all.
  • T-: They never talk to others outside my head of their own will, though I’d let them if they ever felt so inclined.
  • T: Only speak up when a conversation directly involves them.
  • T: Chat with people outside the head from time to time.
  • T+: They butt into my conversations on a regular basis.
  • T++: They spend as much time talking to my friends and their soulbonds as their Bonder does.
  • T +++: Most people don’t even know who the Bonder is!

If you’re ambiguous about something, you can divide two different tags with a slash (for example, R/R+). If you feel something doesn’t apply to you, just leave it out.

L+C-- G (bFsF+&/M) F(A&/W+/R) O.cW&/R/eB+/M Sp.H+/H^/Hm/An^ I+T

Above is my own Soulbond Code 2.0. Perhaps shorter than you'd expect, but not quite easy to decipher. Half the fun of things like the Geek Code (and this) involved poking at other people's codes to sort out what they meant. Maybe you can decode it? It isn't exactly essential information about me and what I experience, but may give a better picture of my soulbonding experiences. That is, after all, part of the point of the Codes.

As you may have noticed, it's located in the sticky sidebar on this site, too. If you create your own Code, you can, of course, post it on your own site; perhaps someone will decode it. Maybe it would remain mysterious. I suspect some might want to link to this key on if they do that, though? If so, the below HTML is provided as a short way of doing that - just insert your own Code where it says.

In this section, I'll add buttons and links to sites for and/or by soulbonders, other alterhumans, and just sites that I hope enrich this one. I may also join some listings and webrings, if any will even take this site! While in no way limited to sites hosted on places like neocities, many of the links here will be from "small web" sites or those known as "webbed pages" rather than social media! Some of the sites listed here aren't about soulbonding, but were made by people who soulbond or are adjacent to the phenomenon, and whose work I found helpful. If you'd like your site added, drop a comment or message here. If your site is listed here and you'd rather it not be, contact me about that, too.

Please use the image to link back to this site if you so choose, but don't hotlink.

Anyways, this site is currently only part of one (unrelated) webring. If you've any that seem appropriate, get in touch!

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